Faith Based Organizations and International Responses to Forced Migration

Abstract

While faith-based organizations (FBOs) have worked globally for centuries, reaching some of the world’s most vulnerable people and remote areas, scholars have only recently studied their characteristics. Defining FBOs and understanding how they work remains largely neglected in the social and policy sciences. While broad variation exists among FBOs: they represent different religious traditions, cultures, sizes and approaches to humanitarian assistance. This chapter focuses on international FBOs within the context of the international humanitarian regime. It reviews the existing literature and explores how and why FBOs are unique from other organizations. They are more likely to encompass a different set of motives and draw from a different donor base and network of actors from volunteers to religious congregations. They also have a different scope, at times limited because of their religious affiliation and other times an ability to reach areas that others cannot because their faith-base provides them legitimacy to work in challenging situations that might be less friendly to groups not affiliated with a specific religion. FBOs may harness greater moral authority than other non-faith-based organizations which enable them to reframe humanitarian issues and debates about relief and assistance. They may also have greater reach because they can connect with local religious groups “on the ground” before other international actors arrive. FBOs motivations, however, may hamper their ability to be neutral and objective to humanitarian situations, making them appear less professional by international standards. They may also be bound by donors that expect their funds to be used for religious purposes when delivering aid. The chapter draws specifically on FBOs working in the refugee context to argue that their strengths outweigh the challenges. I consider some of the shifting trends of FBOs, including changing perceptions, the “professionalization of international humanitarian actors,” and globalization. I conclude by identifying important research questions.